Critical Components of Flash Fiction and Flash Nonfiction

Flash fiction and flash nonfiction differ clearly in content, but many of the needs are the same given the conciseness of the form. In an excerpt from The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Flash Fiction, Nathan Leslie in his article, “The “V” Word,” states, “By focusing on language, scene, voice, and character, my students…

My Handout for “How to Improve Your Writing in 20 Minutes a Day” Workshop

This is my handout from the workshop I conducted at the Story Circle Network Writing Conference in Austin, Texas 2 weeks ago. Some helpful hints on overcoming writer’s block and establishing good habits, writing and otherwise. Benefits of Writing 20 Minutes a Day: Increased fluidity, developing voice, discovering who you are and how you think,…

Prompt: 25 Challenges to Writing Daily & A Method to Combat Them

I am presenting a workshop this weekend at the Story Circle Network national conference on the value of writing at least 20 minutes a day. One aspect of writing, however, is to recognize all the negative self-talk that goes with doing anything creative. Below are 25 different ways I regularly try to undermine my writing…

Haiku Prompt: How I Spent My Day

Eight hours of work Helping with research papers One day of many What connects Huck Finn With Morrison’s Beloved And Black Boy, as well? Shared traits of heroes Of Hemingway, Crane, Heller Or anti-hero? Tom Sawyer and Huck Just boys on an adventure Or symbols of hope? Our founding fathers White, self-serving elitists? Why did…

Writing Prompt: Novel readers: I need your help!

I have written about four chapters of a new novel, but now I’m stuck. I want to have a different kind of structure – you know like Fried Green Tomatoes, where it’s a story inside a story, or Water for Elephants where there are two stories at the same time: the old man’s current life…

Flash Essay: What I’ve Learned from Research about Huck Finn

I am helping one of my students with a term paper on Huck Finn and as part of the process, we’ve researched what inspired Mark Twain to write the books he did. Here is some of what I’ve learned: Mark Twain (aka Samuel Clemens) started Huck Finn in order to tell the humorous anecdotes he’d…